On The Line
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: "Have you ever really thought about how much we risk each day?"


**A/N: This was actually how "Warm" was supposed to turn out, but clearly that didn't happen. Just a little snippet based off the last episode and somewhat inspired by Cadence's story "One Week". Very good fic. I highly recommend it.**

**Disclaimer: Ben 10 is owned by Man of Action, not me.**

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_**On The Line**_

"Have you ever really thought about how much we risk each day?" asked Gwen as she began to shut down the computer systems of Los Soledad. Her emerald orbs followed her fingers as they powered down the electricity for the night, sliding little levers down their courses to the off position.

Kevin wasn't watching her, but he was attentive enough to have been listening. "What do you mean?" he asked, working to shut down the Entropy Pump in the abandoned military base.

Gwen gave a little shrug, unaware that Kevin wasn't watching. "I'm just thinking that how every day, we go out and fight aliens and bad guys, and we risk our lives every waking moment by doing that." The redhead slid down the rest of the levers, watching the lights go dim above her head as well as in the next room where Kevin was standing. An open door between the two rooms allowed them to hear each other.

"The job comes with hazards," pointed out Kevin as he looked up to see the now faintly glowing lights. "Can you kick those back on? I need more light." He cast a glance over one shoulder, watching Gwen nod and flip the lights back on as he continued to work on turning down the energy source of the quartz teleporter pod. His dark gaze then fell back to the work at hand. "We can't do much about the danger that we put ourselves in. It's why we're in the business to begin with, ya know?"

Gwen sighed and slumped down in her chair while watching her beloved boyfriend through the glass window that was put into the wall ahead of her. "Yeah, but it just bothers me sometimes," confessed Gwen; one of her delicate hands pushed a few stray strands of crimson out of her eyes.

"Worried about what might happen if something goes wrong." The way he said it made it sound more like a statement than a question. Kevin threw another glance over his shoulder at the redhead who was finished with her part of the job that they had driven all the way out to the desert to get done.

Gwen wasn't even watching her boyfriend anymore. Her eyes had been captivated by the control panel, not by anything on it, but her stare was just glassy and blank. "Yeah," she said softly. Then her eyes strayed up to find her boyfriend again as the Entropy Pump was powering down until they needed it again. "It's already happened more than once."

She couldn't help but recall the painful, tortures memories of what had happened when there was the final showdown with Aggregor. She remembered the face Kevin had had when he was trying to kill her; she remembered the pain of being thrown around by him. The ache of seeing him as a monster still lingered in her heart, and it caused her physical pain to recall that she couldn't help him no matter what she did. He had put himself on the line to save the entire universe.

He had seen her put herself on the line as well, the Lucubra playing around in her mind and putting her under its spell of brainwashing. Kevin had been afraid for her, but he wouldn't let it show. His feelings had almost slipped out in the form of words, but he wasn't about to let anyone know that he actually cared sometimes. It would ruin the image that he had worked so hard to build up over the years. "We're all alive. It doesn't matter much."

Gwen continued to watch him work intently at the panel of levers and buttons and wires. A gentle sigh escaped her lips. "Maybe you're right, but I don't like seeing you and Ben in trouble." Her arms were folded across her chest; her gaze was torn from the Osmosian's burly form. "When you guys made me stand outside the other day, it was kind of bothering me. I worry about you guys when you're in danger."

"We worry about you too," said Kevin, making sure that the first pronoun wasn't entirely about himself. He didn't want to be known as the kind of guy to worry about anything. It bothered him to know that he had feelings now and that they could sometimes get in the way of things. Especially when they clouded his judgment. "That's why we made you stay outside. Didn't want you gettin' hurt." He still wasn't looking at her. He was watching his work, waiting for the Entropy Pump's lights to go dim, the sign that it was finally turned off; the glow was already dying within the energy generator.

"But I can take care of myself," defended Gwen once more, now looking back at Kevin.

"So can we," pointed out Kevin as the Entropy Pump finally shut down for the night, lights cutting off entirely. "You got hurt once, almost twice, and we decided to take action and put you outta harm's way." He turned around, finding himself staring at his beloved redhead through the pane of glass. "It was two against one in our little democracy. If you tried to tell me and Ben not to do something, it'd still be two against one. We do it because we care, Gwen. We're not imbeciles."

The redhead turned her face away from him, gaze now watching the gravel-covered floor. Pebbles were scattered everywhere across the ground from the ruins of the falling buildings that littered the military base.

Kevin knew he had somewhat hurt her feelings. By calling himself and Ben not imbeciles (when even he knew they both had their moments of stupidity), he had inadvertently called Gwen dumb. He had to redeem himself once again. He quietly made his way to the doorway that separated the two rooms that each stood in. He leaned one shoulder against the slightly crumbling wooden frame. "Gwen, come on. If I was hurt, wouldn't you tell me to sit somethin' out?"

She grudgingly grumbled, "Yes."

"Me and Ben care too much to see you get hurt again, alright?" His obsidian orbs were watching her face; Kevin was hoping she would see it through his eyes. "If we lose you, do you know how bad we'd feel for lettin' you get yourself into the fightin'?"

Gwen still wasn't looking at him. She wasn't happy with the way that the guys bossed her around. She always knew Ben had an anti-feminist thing going on, but she had at least figured that Kevin would take her side. Fighting was his thing and she knew that he liked having her at his side on the battlefield.

"And do you know how bad I feel for not lettin' you stay with Winston to mess with your translation doohickeys?" Kevin saw his redhead's eyes turn up to look at him now. "If I had let you stay behind with him, you never would've got hurt in the first place, ya know that?" His arms crosssed upon his chest as he watched her. "It's my fault that thing got its hooks into you."

"You were right though," pointed out Gwen, heart growing soft. Never before had she ever thought that Kevin carried guilt. She knew that he was capable of it, but she figured that he blew everything off, not caring, never letting any emotions show. "You guys did need me."

Kevin watched her emerald eyes carefully now. "If I hadn't been jealous and let you stay behind, an officer would've died, sure. But then you would've been safe and you never would've been hurt and me and Ben could've handled everything. And some Forever Knights would've gone to jail and made less of a mess for us. It's a win-loss-win, but it would've ended better, right?"

The Tennyson girl wasn't stupid. She had figured what he was saying easily enough. "So killing a polic-"

"Hey, I care about you above all else, got that? A cop doesn't matter as long as you're safe." Kevin shifted his weight and pushed off the doorframe. He then moved his way over to the panel that Gwen was working out and cut the lights off entirely except for the few flood lights that would come on in a moment as soon as total darkness was realized. "Now let's get outta here. Desert's cold at night and I don't like bein' cold."

Gwen knew that was probably the most loving thing she would ever hear Kevin say. He wasn't one to talk about his feelings much, but she knew that was pretty deep for him being such a tortured soul. The girl stood up from her chair where she had been pouting earlier and let Kevin take the lead, heading the way out of the room in the abandoned base to the car that sat just outside. Now she knew that when she put her life on the line every day, some part of her boyfriend was more protective than ever. He cared. That was all she needed to know.

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**A/N: Very happy with this one-shot. Short-ish, but I like it. Review please?**

**~Sky**


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